The God of Wealth starts with doing whatever you want

In July, Washington D.C. was filled with a thick, sweltering heat.

In a closed hearing room on Capitol Hill, the air conditioning system hummed low, but it couldn't dispel the invisible pressure.

"Gentlemen, this is not ordinary business competition."

The speaker was William Ross, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce. This former Wall Street investment banking executive, after transitioning to public office, still maintains the precision and detachment of a financial elite.

He stood in front of the projection screen, the red dot of the laser pointer hovering over the title "Amendment to Bill S.487".

"Over the past three months, a Chinese company called Yungang Capital, through its holding chip design subsidiary, has partnered with Huawei and the Shenzhen government to launch an AI acceleration chip codenamed 'Loongson Matrix'."

According to the technical evaluation report we obtained, this chip outperforms NVIDIA's latest H100 series by 37% to 58% in certain AI workloads.

A set of charts appeared on the screen, with shockingly contrasting curves.

"More importantly..."

Ross moved his laser pointer to another set of data.

"Their development kit is completely open source and uses an instruction set architecture that we have never seen before."

Preliminary analysis shows that this architecture is far more compatible with the existing ecosystem than expected, and may even be partially compatible with CUDA code.

A low murmur of discussion arose in the conference room.

Thirteen officials and members of Congress from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the State Department, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and relevant congressional committees sat on either side of the rectangular mahogany conference table.

Seated at the head of the table was Senator Richard Crawford, 71, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

The veteran politician from Texas took off his reading glasses and slowly began to speak.

"So you mean the Chinese have not only developed better chips, but are also planning to give them away for free?"

“It’s not a free gift, Mr. Senator.”

Ross corrected, "It is open source, but they have retained the core manufacturing processes and material patents."

This means that anyone can develop chips based on their designs.

However, to achieve the advertised performance, one must either use their designated contract manufacturer or pay a hefty licensing fee to obtain the complete manufacturing process.

"A typical Chinese strategy."

The representative of the Department of Defense, Assistant Secretary Robert Chan, took over the conversation.

This third-generation Chinese immigrant speaks with the crispness and efficiency characteristic of West Point cadets.

"First, attract developers with the open-source ecosystem to build user stickiness, and then achieve a de facto monopoly through the manufacturing process and supply chain."

We cannot repeat the mistakes of the 5G era, waiting until Huawei had built 150,000 base stations globally before realizing we needed to restrict it.

"So what is your Ministry of National Defense's assessment?"

Senator Crawford put his glasses back on and looked at Robert Chan.

"The worst-case scenario is that if this technology forms a complete ecosystem, our advantage in the field of military applications of artificial intelligence will disappear in the next five to ten years."

Robert Chen brought up another set of slides.

That's the result of a simulation.

"From collaborative operations of autonomous drone swarms to real-time processing of battlefield situational awareness, and then to intelligent confrontation in network attack and defense..."

All of these next-generation combat concepts are built on powerful edge AI computing power.

Currently, the only companies globally capable of providing this computing power are Nvidia and, now, China's Yungang Capital.

He paused, his voice growing deeper.

"If we allow these two companies to compete fairly, given the technological advantages and pricing strategies that Cloud Harbor Capital has demonstrated so far, Nvidia's market share in the high-end military chip market could be eroded by more than 60% within three years."

At that point, the Pentagon will face an awkward choice.

They either use technologically outdated American products, or they rely on Chinese technology for performance.

The room was deathly silent.

Only the air conditioner vents emitted a continuous low hum.

"Therefore, the S.487 amendment must be passed as soon as possible."

Ross broke the silence, circling the "key terms" with a laser pointer.

"The original bill mainly restricted the export of finished chips and high-end manufacturing equipment."

The draft amendment adds two items.

First, 'Advanced semiconductor design tools and instruction set architectures' will be included in the control list.

Second, the scope of 'end-user review' will be expanded to include any foreign company that uses more than 25% U.S. technology.

Providing services to Chinese AI chip companies requires a license.

"What about Nvidia's stance?" a congressman from California asked.

“Mr. Huang came to Washington in person last week and met with several officials, including myself.”

Ross replied, "His position is clear: he supports regulation, but hopes to exempt Nvidia from the technology exchange license with Cloud Harbor Capital."

The rationale is that "only by maintaining contact can we understand the opponent's technological progress and thus conduct targeted research and development."

"Typical businessman mindset."

Robert Chen scoffed: "He wants to limit his opponent, but he also wants to learn from him."

"That's not important."

Senator Crawford tapped the table, drawing everyone's attention back.

"The key question is whether the amendment can be passed by the committee before the August recess."
I need a timeline, and... how much political capital we need to prepare for this game.

Ross and Robert Chen exchanged a glance.

"If all goes well, the Commerce Committee can complete its hearings within two weeks and submit them to the full House for a vote before the end of the month."

As for political capital…

Ross pulled up the last slide, which listed the names of more than a dozen lobbying groups and industry associations.

"Traditional allies like the Semiconductor Industry Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Manufacturers Association will support it, but Silicon Valley startups and the open-source community may strongly oppose it."

Especially if Yungang Capital really does release that 'Loongson Matrix 2.0' development toolkit on Friday, and if there are no hidden restrictions in the open-source license.

"Then let them object."

Senator Crawford stood up, placed his hands on the table, and his grey-blue eyes swept over everyone present.

"Gentlemen, this is not about a chip, or even an industry."

This is about the right to set the rules for the next era.

Does China want to use open source and low prices to disrupt the existing order?
"Very well, then we'll use the law and alliances to show them that some games aren't for everyone."

He straightened up, his voice echoing in the closed room.

"I demand that, firstly, the Ministry of Commerce issue a preliminary review notice regarding the 'Entity List' targeting Yungang Capital within 48 hours."

Second, the Ministry of National Defense is preparing a detailed report on the military applications of China's AI chip technology, which I will use at next week's hearing.

third……"

He looked at Ross.

"We are contacting our allies in Europe, Japan, and South Korea to launch a 'multilateral coordination mechanism for the semiconductor supply chain'."

If the Chinese want to start anew, we'll show them that building a new system in this world isn't so easy.

"clear."

"There's one more thing."

Senator Crawford walked to the door, then turned around.

"The founder of Yungang Capital, is he named Xu Yun?"
At 29, he is the youngest academician in the Chinese Academy of Engineering, owns a private island, and maintains illegitimate relationships with multiple women…

Collect all available materials, including those that are not suitable for public release.

When necessary, we need to show the world what their so-called 'technology leaders' really are.

The door opened and then closed.

The remaining people in the conference room silently packed up their documents, exchanging complicated glances.

They all knew that a new era of hunting down chips, far beyond the chips themselves, had just officially begun.

At the same time, in Shenzhen, at the Yungang Capital R&D Center.

A huge digital countdown hangs on the curved screen in the atrium.

[Time remaining until the global launch of "Loongson Matrix 2.0": 03 hours, 47 minutes, and 29 seconds]

It was already 1 a.m., but the entire building was brightly lit.

Zhong Yanyan stood in front of the observation window of the testing laboratory, watching more than 20 engineers inside conducting the final stress test.

Dozens of server racks are arranged in a matrix, and the hum of cooling fans comes through the soundproof glass in a dull low frequency.

"All benchmark tests passed."

The technical director took off his VR glasses, his forehead covered in sweat, but his eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

"In the three major categories of natural language processing, computer vision, and scientific computing, and across sixteen sub-test items, our development toolkit has achieved an average performance improvement of 42% and a power consumption reduction of 31%."

The most crucial CUDA code converter achieved a compatibility rate of 93.7%, nearly five percentage points higher than expected.

"What about stability?" Zhong Yanyan asked.

"Seventy-two consecutive hours of full-load testing, zero crashes, zero data errors."

We even simulated extreme conditions such as grid voltage fluctuations and abnormal computer room temperatures, and the system automatically completed degraded operation and recovery.

The CTO couldn't help but grin.

"Mr. Zhong, to be honest, I've been in this industry for twenty years and I've never seen such an architecture before."

It's so...elegant, like it was always meant to be designed this way, and all our previous attempts were just going down the wrong path.

Zhong Yanyan nodded, but there was no smile on her face.

She glanced at her watch.

"The press conference proceeded as planned, and all online live streaming platforms were in place."

In addition, have the public relations department double-check all speeches and presentation materials to ensure there are no statements that could be interpreted as 'provocative' or 'threatening'.

"clear."

The CTO hesitated for a moment before asking, "Mr. Zhong, are we really not going to consider registering some core patents with the US Patent and Trademark Office first?"

If the S.487 amendment passes, applying for an application later may be very difficult.

"Mr. Xu means it's not necessary."

Zhong Yanyan turned and walked towards the elevator, saying, "He said that true disruption doesn't need patent protection."

Because by the time you apply for a patent, the technology will already be outdated.

The moment the elevator doors closed, she saw the countdown jump to [03 hours 46 minutes 18 seconds].

Amsterdam, NXP headquarters building.

The boardroom on the top floor was filled with smoke.

The twelve directors sat around an oval conference table, while three documents were simultaneously projected onto the wall.

On the left is the joint acquisition proposal from Nvidia and NXP.

In the middle is the equity acquisition offer submitted by Yungang Capital through a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund.

On the right is an assessment report compiled by the company's legal counsel regarding the potential impact of the S.487 amendment.

“A $3 billion acquisition of our automotive chip division, plus technology sharing over the next five years.”

NXP CEO Hans van der Weil, a Dutchman, points to the document on the left.

"These are the conditions offered by Nvidia."

Jensen Huang personally pledged that, upon completion of the transaction, NXP would become Nvidia's sole strategic partner in the automotive electronics sector.

"That sounds wonderful."

Peter van der Kemp, Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Philips, took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with a cloth.

"But the price is that we have to terminate all cooperation negotiations with Cloud Harbor Capital, including the joint development project for autonomous driving chips that we have been discussing for three months."

"So what?"

An independent director from the United States, a former vice president of Qualcomm, spoke up.

“YunGang Capital’s technology is indeed advanced, but they are facing a siege from the entire US government and semiconductor industry.”

Once the S.487 amendment is passed, all companies using U.S. technology will be prohibited from cooperating with them.

NXP's EDA tools, testing equipment, and even office software—which of them can do without American technology?
What will we do then? Give up the entire US market for one Chinese customer?

"But Yungang Capital offered a 25% premium for the equity acquisition."

The CFO pulled up a set of data.

"If we accept the acquisition offer from the Middle East fund, we can not only cash out in the secondary market, but also enter Yungang Capital's supply chain system through cross-shareholding."

Their 'Loongson matrix' architecture has significant advantages in edge computing scenarios, which is precisely the core direction for the future of automotive electronics.

"The future? What if they don't have a future?"

The American director sneered.

"I have received information that the Ministry of Commerce is drafting a notice on the entity list, which will be released no later than next week."

By then, any company doing business with Yungang Capital could face secondary sanctions. Do you want NXP to become the next ZTE?

The meeting room reached a stalemate.

Van der Kamp put his glasses back on and his gaze swept over each director.

"Okay, let's vote, but before that, I'd like to show you some materials."

He gestured to his assistant to operate the projector, and a screenshot of an encrypted email appeared on the screen.

The sender's address is blurred, but the content is clearly visible.

That was a summary of Nvidia's internal evaluation reports from the past five years, with one section highlighted in red:

In negotiations with European partners, their dependence on the US market should be fully utilized.

If necessary, it can be implied that if the cooperation fails, Nvidia will push Congress to amend relevant legislation to restrict competitors' access to key technologies...

"This material was sent anonymously to my private email address."

Van der Kamp said calmly.

"The message was sent four hours ago, shortly after the Nvidia vice president left the Nicosia club."

The American board member's expression changed.

"This is a forgery! It's Yungang Capital trying to sow discord!"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."

Van der Kemp turned off the projector.

"But what I want to say is: when we completely entrust our fate to the 'goodwill' of one side, we have already lost the freedom to choose."

He stood up and placed his hands on the table.

“NXP is a European company. Our roots are in Europe, and our future is in Europe.”

The US market is important, but it shouldn't be our only option.

China's technology is advanced, but that shouldn't lead us to take unnecessary risks.

He looked around at the crowd.

"My suggestion is to postpone the acquisition negotiations with Nvidia, temporarily not accept the equity acquisition by the Middle East fund, but at the same time continue to negotiate technical cooperation with Yungang Capital."

However, this applies only to projects in the European market, and all code development and testing must be completed within Europe.

“This is like walking a tightrope,” the CFO frowned.

"But this is the only balance point at present."

Van der Kemp looked out the window; Amsterdam's canals shimmered in the night.

"In a polarized world, sometimes not making a choice is itself a choice."

We need time to observe and wait.

We await to see just how much of a stir the toolkit that Chinese company will release tonight will cause.

We await the ultimate outcome of the political maneuvering in Washington.

We await... what rules this era will ultimately choose.

The clock on the wall points to two in the morning.

There are less than two hours left until the global launch of "Loongson Matrix 2.0".

……

Crescent Island, underground command center.

Xu Yun sat in front of the control panel, where the screen was divided into more than a dozen displays.

The top left corner shows the live monitoring of the Shenzhen press conference.

The top right corner shows the global public opinion situation as summarized by Isabella.

In the middle are encrypted briefings transmitted from Washington, Brussels, Tokyo, Seoul, and other locations by the "Dark Eye" intelligence network.

"The Ministry of Commerce's Entity List warning has been confirmed."

Isabella's voice came through the communication channel.

"The source is a staff member of the Senate Commerce Committee, and the drafting work has been completed. It is expected to be officially released next Monday."

The reason for its inclusion is "suspected use of civilian technology to cover up military application research and development."

Xu Yun nodded and tapped his fingers on the virtual keyboard.

"Execute according to plan C."

Inform all our partner teams in Silicon Valley to mirror their core code and development documentation to servers in Switzerland and Singapore 24 hours before the Entity List is published.

In addition, allow Meng Wanzhou to initiate the "Torch Program," which provides a one-time compensation payment of six months' salary to all contracted US developers who are unable to continue cooperation due to the travel ban, while retaining their priority to rejoin in the future.

"clear."

Isabella paused for a moment, then continued her report.

"NXP's board meeting has just concluded, and the resolution is not to make a decision."

They neither agree to Nvidia's acquisition nor accept our equity investment, but agree to continue technical cooperation on European-specific projects.

Infineon's approach was more cautious; their CEO explicitly stated they would wait for the final text of the S.487 amendment.

"As expected."

Xu Yun pulled up a map of the European semiconductor industry chain.

"Germans and Dutchmen are businessmen at heart, not gamblers."

They will pursue maximum profit while keeping risks under control, but they will never gamble everything on an uncertain future.

"Then we..."

"Proceed according to the original plan."

Xu Yun magnified several nodes on the graph.

NXP and Infineon are not the only options.

STMicroelectronics in France, Microchip Technology in Italy, and even those small, specialized design companies in the UK...

Europe has a complete semiconductor ecosystem, but it has been suppressed by American giants for too long over the past two decades.

Now, we're giving them a chance to get back to the table.

He pulled up a list of seventeen European technology companies.

"Let Natasha launch the 'Renaissance Project' and contact these companies; the terms could be more favorable."

We do not demand controlling stakes, exclusive technology, or even exclusive partnerships.

We only ask one thing: develop chips for the niche areas they excel at, based on our architecture.

Automotive electronics, industrial control, medical devices, aerospace… in every field, we welcome true experts to join us.

“This will dilute our control,” Isabella cautioned.

“Control does not come from equity or contracts.”

Xu Yun turned off the graph and looked at the countdown scrolling on the screen.

[00 hours 58 minutes 14 seconds]

"Control comes from defining the rules of the game, and everyone is willing to play the game under your rules."

The true power of the 'Loongson Matrix' open-source ecosystem lies not in how many patents we possess, but in how many people are willing to create value based on this ecosystem.

He stood up and walked to the curved floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the searchlights from the second phase of the Crescent Island project illuminated the coastline as if it were daytime.

The new laboratory building is being topped out, satellite communication antenna arrays are slowly rotating in the night, and red aviation warning lights are flashing on the cranes in the port.

"How is the second phase of the project progressing?" Xu Yun asked.

"Proceed as planned."

Isabella brought up the engineering panel.

"The Signals Intelligence Laboratory will be completed by the end of this month, and the quantum computing prototype will arrive in mid-next month."

The foundation work for the airport's second runway has begun, and it will be able to accommodate large transport aircraft next quarter.

Most importantly, the Asia regional center of 'Dark Eye' has been built, and the data link between the three intelligence stations in Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul was completed last week.

Now we can monitor the flow of electronic information throughout East and Southeast Asia in real time.

Xu Yun quietly watched the flashing data streams.

Each strip of light represents a secret transmission, an encrypted call, or a document that should not be seen.

In the shadows of the digital world, a war without gunfire has already begun.

"Dark Eyes" refers to his eyes and ears during that war.

"Xu Yun".

Isabella's voice suddenly became hesitant.

"I just received an unencrypted message from Washington... about you."

"explain."

Senator Crawford's office is collecting your personal data, including...

Your relationships with Ms. Zhong, Li Jinshu, Su Mu, and other women, as well as the sources of funding for the construction of Crescent Island.

They seem prepared to launch a media attack if necessary, portraying you as a 'corrupt tycoon who acquired technology through illegitimate means.'

Xu Yun was silent for a few seconds, then smiled.

"Let them collect it."

His voice was calm.

"All my sources of wealth are fully documented, all my technological achievements are documented in published papers, and all my personal relationships..."

These are all voluntary choices made between adults.

If they're trying to divert attention with such low-level tactics, it just shows that they've run out of openings on the front lines of technology and industry.

The countdown has reached [00 hours 30 minutes 00 seconds].

At the press conference in Shenzhen, a promotional video began playing, and the online viewership curve on 37 live streaming platforms worldwide started to rise sharply.

In their offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, aides are working through the night to revise the wording of the S.487 amendment.

In Brussels, officials from the European Commission’s Competition Department held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to launch an antitrust investigation into Chinese AI chips.

In Tokyo, the head of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry received a phone call from Washington that lasted forty-seven minutes.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics held an extraordinary board meeting with only one agenda item: how should South Korean companies respond if the US-China tech war escalates fully?

Meanwhile, in every corner of the world, tens of thousands of developers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and investors are sitting in front of their computers, waiting for the toolkit that promises to "redefine AI computing."

Xu Yun walked back to the main control panel and put on the holographic glasses.

The field of vision expanded instantly, with the global intelligence situation map and the press conference footage superimposed, and the data flowed like a galaxy in the void.

Isabella.

"exist."

"Record this moment."

Xu Yun's voice was transmitted simultaneously to Crescent Island, Shenzhen, Cyprus, and all "Dark Eye" nodes through a quantum-encrypted channel.

“2024年7月19日，凌晨3点29分。

While Washington tries to build walls with laws, Silicon Valley tries to maintain its hegemony with ecology, and the whole world is watching and hesitating…

He pressed the start button in front of him.

At the press conference in Shenzhen, a dazzling light effect burst forth on the large screen.

The screens on all global live streaming platforms switched simultaneously, and the words "Loongson Matrix 2.0 Development Toolkit - Officially Released" flashed in twelve languages.

The moment the download link was unlocked, the traffic monitoring curve spiked vertically.

"We chose to open the door."

Xu Yun stared at the numbers flashing wildly on the screen: 100,000, 500,000, 1 million...

Downloads are growing at a rate of tens of thousands per minute.

The comment section was flooded with messages in various languages.

[Developer from San Francisco: This is impossible! The converter actually runs my CUDA code!]

[Berlin AI Lab: If the data from performance testing is accurate, it will change everything]

[University of Tokyo researcher: Where is the architecture paper? I need to see the theoretical part!]

[Bangalore, India: Are there really no hidden clauses in open-source licenses?]

[São Paulo, Brazil: When will the localized documentation be released?]

"Then let the world see it."

Xu Yun smiled and took off his holographic glasses, and the countdown on the screen returned to zero.

[00 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds] (End of this chapter)